Page 41 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FEATURE 41
RIGHT: Work underway on the steel and unit fabrication hall at Osborne.
of the reference ship model, we’re separating it in the CAD model, and we’re transferring it to Australia for us to manage that detailed configuration as we go through detailed de- sign. But there will still be core and common elements between the Hunter-class project, the UK’s Type 26 and Canada’s Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC). And we still have a process by which major change that is of- fered up to any one nation or one class is also offered up to the other two nations and class- es. Each nation can potentially benefit from changes that others are considering.
ADM: How complete will the reference ship design be when you receive it?
LOCKHART: There will still be changes be- cause HMS Glasgow has yet to be launched and fully outfitted. But we receive weekly and monthly metrics, we have daily calls with the UK, we have people embedded in the UK program who are able to attest to the UK’s performance against its own pro- gram. They’ve been working hard to deliver finalised compartments to the Navy and that requires them to have absolute accura- cy in their data environment. And we ben- efit from that. A lot of our detailed design will be done in Melbourne, complementing what we deliver at Osborne.
“THERE WILL STILL BE CORE AND COMMON ELEMENTS BETWEEN THE HUNTER- CLASS PROJECT, THE UK’S TYPE 26 AND CANADA’S CANADIAN SURFACE COMBATANT (CSC)”
LOCKHART: We’re all fishing in the same pool for those critical engineering, sys- tems engineering, design and capable sup- ply chain knowledge resources.
Without a national response to generat- ing more numbers in the hopper, our chal- lenge is not going to diminish in the next 10 years. Systems engineers, everything from combat, to ship, to platform, to sur- veillance, post-graduation really face a de- cades-long experience journey. Unless we align ourselves nationally with academia,
ADM: Could the design be changed to increase firepower? LOCKHART: We will provide the Commonwealth with an understanding of the capability margins that could be within the ship. We will provide all of that analysis within the current SDR outcomes, and that really informs the Commonwealth’s and the Navy’s ability to decide what they want on Ship One Batch One; Batch 2 and Batch 3 before we go into manufacture contract.
ADM: What is the contractual situation?
LOCKHART: We’re currently under a Design and Produc- tionisation (D&P) contract that’s governed by the Hunter Head Contract signed in December 2018. It involves us building up capability in the yard, progressing detailed de- sign from the reference ship, delivering long lead items into the supply chain, and AIC requirements. We’ll eventually move from D&P into a Batch One contracting environ- ment prior to the start of construction. We’re now working closely with our customer to determine the requirements for Batch One and the next contracting phase.
ADM: You’ve expressed concerns about future skills shortages. Has anything changed?
with the Department of Trade and Industry and stay focused on the workforce challenge, these pools of people are not go- ing be available when we need them most.
ADM: How are things travelling with Saab and Lockheed Martin in the combat system integration area? LOCKHART: We’ve come through a very intensive design peri- od and the ability of our three organisations to work together is paramount to the success of this project. We put a lot of effort into the relationship, I speak to my fellow CEOs on a weekly basis, we have active working groups and a lot of cross-fertilisation, and the team is working very well together.
ADM: Rating the program as it stands from 1 to 10, how would you mark it?
LOCKHART: It’s under good control. The program challeng- es are understood and being worked through. We know what the risks are; these are well-verbalised and commu- nicated very clearly to government, Navy and CASG. Does that mean that the challenges are any less significant in producing a first-of-class in the UK and then first-of-class in Australia and then a first-of-class in Canada? No, it doesn’t mean that. So, you know, I’m never going to rate myself anything better than a five out of 10. We can al- ways do better. ■
BAE SYSTEMS